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New Podcast: Toolkit for Identifying Reuse Markets for Recycled Material in Michigan
This podcast features MSU CCED research assistant and recent MSU graduate Abigail Carrigan, who discusses her work on a new toolkit designed to help Michigan communities identify reuse markets for recycled materials. She explains that recyclers often struggle to find end users because “a lot of information is proprietary,” making it difficult to know who can reliably take and repurpose materials.
The toolkit compiles existing mapping resources and outlines practical strategies, such as improving material quality, reducing contamination, increasing transparency, and hosting regional matchmaking events, to strengthen the demand side of Michigan’s circular economy.
Abigail also shares how her experience working in Livingston County shaped the toolkit’s development, especially through projects focused on sustainability, food systems, and materials management planning. She emphasizes that circularity requires participation from local governments, recyclers, producers, and consumers, and that strengthening reuse markets is a critical step toward reducing landfill dependence and keeping materials in use longer. The episode closes by highlighting the broader goal of building a more regenerative, economically viable system for Michigan’s communities.
Listen to the full podcast, here - and access the Toolkit for Identifying Reuse Markets by clicking on the image below.
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